LA FORMA E L'IGNOTO
(The shape and the unknown)
Personal exhibition of 108 with original works of Wassily Kandinsky, Jean Arp and Imre Reiner.
Vernissage: Thursday, 12th February 2015 at 17:30
12th February 2015 – 21st March 2015
The partnership between ego gallery and Guido Bisagni, stage name 108, is once more consolidated through the exhibition The shape and the unknown (La forma e l’ignoto). The artist from Alexandria presents a series of unpublished works that perfectly summarise the most recent result of his multi-year work on shapes in view of his second solo exhibition in Switzerland.
For this special occasion, 108’s paintings and drawings are compared with some original works of three exceptional godfathers: Wassily Kandinsky, Jean Arp and Imre Reiner. Thanks to the cooperation of a renowned Swiss collector, the viewer can enjoy a glimpse of research on colors and shapes not invented by Guido Bisagni but of which he is proud and the worthy heir.
108 in fact has concentrated on possible developments of abstract art for many years; the artist has been able to develop vanguard concepts linking them to the contemporary artistic context. This is visible in studio works, but even more evident in public space, where he is now considered an important precursor: when Street Art was born focusing on representation, 108 painted abstract art, thus paving the way for many street artists, who, from Europe to the United States, have developed their urban work in his wake, thus obtaining a remarkable international success.
108, born and bred in the Italian province, started making public art at a very young age, and, despite being one of the forerunners of this art, he has always stayed away from what the fashion industry, especially the American one, now hails as Street Art. Comparable in some respects to a modern monk, his research has always been intimate and far from the world of pop: diving deeply and completely in artistic creation enables 108 to find refuge in a very personal corner, where space and time do not condition you but are controllable variables through creation. Synthesis in its very personal forms contrast strongly and almost fundamentally with contemporary art today, which is often made of frills and tricks to please the audience or the critics. In short, 108 fills the superficial world of "I like" today with intense meaning.
Interview:
To
better understand 108's work, we asked him a few questions about his
influences and his research:
How
did you start life in the art world?
I
started drawing as a child, but not only, I've always had a passion
for everything that was manual. I was influenced by this mainly from
my mother who started painting before I was born and by my maternal
grandfather who always created models and worked wood. As a child my
passion were dinosaurs and trains and I used to draw them constantly,
dreaming of becoming a cartoonist or Illustrator. In the early 90's I
started with graffiti which I discovered through skateboarding, and I
dedicated myself to them for a long time in the most classical form,
until I discovered that my real interest were pure
forms and colors
Artistic
research on shape and color played a key role at the beginning of
'900...
I
am conscious of being late by a century, but I decided to be inspired
by these artists for two reasons: I think that historical period has
been, not only for abstract art, the most extreme point which the
vanguards embraced and so while finding my way for abstract art I
decided to eliminate (almost) everything that came after, and start
from there. The second reason is that for years I developed my
research on walls and in public spaces and that I was almost an
"outsider" for a long time in that environment, bringing
the abstract where figurative art prevailed over "illustration"
and more pop and superficial images and where nobody had presented a
research comparable to mine.
How
did you fall in love with KANDINSKY?
In
1997 I decided to devote myself to design
so I joined the Faculty
of architecture of the Politecnico
of Milan, specialising in design, where I obtained my first degree
years later. During my first year at an examination of visual
communication, I learnt about Bauhaus
and the vanguards of
early ‘900. Reading "The
spiritual in art” by
Kandisky, was
probably the most important event which marked my artistic path and
to which I am still attached. At that moment I decided to take what I
was doing more seriously and then to stop reproducing letters and
sometimes figures in a style that I had already seen and to seek a
style of my own. It is impossible to totally describe Kandinsky's
influence on my work; most of it happened unconsciously. I
then decided to consider shapes as shapes and colours as colours, and
above all to experiment them and observe what was happening. I tried
many times to find the "perfect
shape" but never
succeeded with a rational process; this was described by Kandisky
much better than me:
“...
I never used previous shapes with logic, but only those that an
internal impulse moved me to use. I never succeeded in "matching"
a shape: each chosen shape was repugnant to me. Those I used arose
spontaneously... " (from
"A look at the past",
SE editions).
I've
always admired folk art, and more spontaneous art forms such as art
brut or naive painters. I love the imperfections and I love exposing
the "painting". While painting flat backgrounds and simple
shapes, I prefer them to be imperfect, I'd rather expose the brush
strokes and the painter's mark.
There
are contact points even in music...
Another
important point in common with the great Russian artist is to see
connections between painting and music. I have always worked with
sounds too and the part that has always fascinated me, as described
in "Spiritual in art" is that music is always an abstract
art. There
are many points in common with Kandinsky in my work, not just because
I decided to start from there and it is considered the starting point
of abstract art. There are many things that I have discovered over
the years. The most important part anyway, besides neglecting
figuration, is the relationship that is in my work between ARTS and
MAGIC or spirituality, which are indivisible in my opinion. Art must
have a spiritual significance, otherwise it is an illustration, an
embellishment. Besides painting, I am fond of anthropology, and I
studied shamanism by collecting documents on what still exists today,
and what existed in Europe before Christianity. I didn't know that
Kandinsky thought of becoming an anthropologist before becoming a
painter, and spent several weeks in remote areas of Russia where the
Komi lived, for ethnographic study. There he was in contact with
their art forms and with the last shamans and thus decided to become
an artist. This struck me deeply.
I
could also mention circles or soft shapes, but I will only say that
Kandisky is the most important artist to me, not only in painting.
What
about ARP?
I
could mention many other artists who have greatly influenced me, but
Arp is definitely the second. On one hand, his simple and free shapes
are incredibly familiar to me and have always given me a sense of
peace and tranquility. Arp’s art is essential for my entire work,
and not just aestetically, but for all that it is, once again, magic
and unknown. At one point, I drastically tried to eliminate (besides
letters and figures) all the "rational aesthetics". But not
just that, I wanted to release my creative spirit as much as
possible, and then, go back to a vision of spiritual and shamanic
art, abandon rationality
and reason. And this is
how I started with the "yellow shapes". I had this roll of
yellow adhesive film and began to cut it automatically
in soft and completely
irrational shapes and so happened to be, though the result was
unrefined, incredibly close to Arp shapes, but not only. The idea of
putting these shapes on the streets derived from an attempt to
communicate to "normal" people out of space and time
devoted to art, how in reality, all social patterns that are followed
daily are nonsensical; or at least take a breather or awakening, to
those few who walked for a few seconds, saw my shapes devoid of logic
and by trying to give it a sense came out of the daily "loop".
One last thing, more material, is that for Arp, as in the case of
Kandinsky, whenever I start to work with a material without thinking
(either color or clay) I find myself incredibly close to the shape of
this artist, just that aesthetic feeling.
And
what about Imre Reiner?
I
met Reiner as an artist later. The use of black for example,
especially ink on paper, or the most rigid stroke, led me in many
cases to stay away from soft and lighter forms of Arp and Kandinsky.
I don't think this is just an aesthetic choice, or the influence of
the nib, but a personal thing and once again unconscious. Some
thoughts from within do not always lead somewhere. Sometimes they get
muddled and end up in dark environments. Other influences return
here, from the ancient ink calligraphy engravings or landscapes,
which create gloomy views even if they have lost the figurative part.
One of the things that most struck me in Reiner's painting and
particularly in some sheets, is this penchant for some incongruous
shapes, which although abstract, seem grotesque and thus in my
opinion are alive.
